Power-windmill



(5 D. FOSTER.

POWER WINDMILL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. I7. 1916.

' 1,329,299, Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

G. D. FOSTER.

POWER WINDMILL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-17.1916.

"1,329,299; Patented Jan. 27, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INIVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT o Io GEORGE n- FOSTER, or NORTH YAKIMA, WASHINGTON, AssIeNoR T0 UNION LAND &

rowan COMPANY, or NORTH YAKIMA, WASHINGTON, A CORPORATION or WASH- INGTON.

POWER-1V INDMILL.

Application filed August 17, 1916. 'Serial No. 115,434.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE D. FOSTER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of North Yakima, in the county of Yakima and State of Washington, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Power- Windmills; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to power wind-mills.

The particular object of the invention is to provide a wind-mill to meet the longsought-for requirements for. operating with efliciencylarge mills in low velocities of wind in order to obtain correspondingly efficient surface demanded in present day power-producing machinery and correspondingly higher and better results in high winds, which cannot be met with the construction of the present day windmills.

To these ends my invention comprises the novel features hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved windmill; Fig. 2 is a part vertical sectional view taken at right angles to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view largely diagrammatic, of portion of the turntable and the frame traveling thereon; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail of a portion of the wheel showing the connection to the governor; Figs. 5 and 6 show details of the reefing mechanism; and Fig. 7 is a face view of the governor taken on the line 77 of Fig. 4.

In the drawing, the numeral 2 designates a suitable foundation upon which is laid the circular track 3. On the foundation 2' at the center of the track is the pivot-bearing or housing 4 in which is journaled the vertical shaft 5 to which power is communicated by the wind-mill in the manner more fully hereinafter set forth. This shaft 5 has the bevel-gear 6 meshing with the bevelpinion 7 on the shaft 8 by which power is transmitted to the machine to be operated by the wind-mill power.

The frame or turntable 9 has the wheels 10 which travel on the track 3. A heavy pipe-section 5 forms the central pivot-bearing or anchorage for the turntable carrying the wind-power apparatus. and this turntable moves upon this track only when the wind changes its direction, and the mill is kept automatically on the lee of said'turntable.

Mounted on the turntable 9 is the upright frame 11, which is braced by the brace 12 so as to hold said frame rigidlyin' position. Mounted to rotate in suitable bearings 13 in said frame 11 is thehollow shaft 14. Secured to said shaft are the hub-members'15,

which form the seats or supports for the Iv spokes 17 of the power-wheel 16, which are connected at their outer ends to the rim 18. The rim 18 is provided with the forked-pins 19 engaged by the cable 20. The cable 20 passes down around sheaves 20 mounted on 1 the turntable 9 and thence around sheave 2O secured toshaft 5.

Mounted on the hollow shaft" 14 is the movable hub-sleeve 21 to which are secured, Y

Patented Jan. 27, 1920. I

and which radiate therefrom, the spokes 23 of the reefing-wheel 24. The outer ends of the spokes 23 are connected to the rim 25 of said reefing-wheel.

The sails or. vanes 26 are preferably formed of longitudinal pipe-sections 27 with cross-ribs 28 extending out from both sides thereof from the coupling 29. Upon these ribs is placed woven-wire netting covered with sail-cloth, although any desired material maybe used for forming said sails,

such as sheet-iron. These sails are mounted on the power-wheel between the spokes 17 and the pipe-sections 27 extend beyond said sails, the outer ends of said pipe-sections being journaled in pivot-boxes 30 on their inner face of the rim 18 while the inner ends are journaled in pivot-boxes 31 in the rim 32 of the concentric ring 33, said ring being made up of the spokes 34 radiating from the hub-member 35 secured to' the shaft 14. r

A bracket 36 is connected-to the rib 28, of the sail-frame, said bracket having the semicircular bearing 37 with the lugs 38 extend- A' U-bolt 39 passes ing out therefrom. through said lugs and is held inplace by the nuts 40 clamping saidbracket-to the pipesection 27.. An arm 41 is connected to the pipe-section 27 and-said arm is connected to the clevis end 42 of the rod 43, which rod passes through an opening 44 in a lug45 on the periphery of the resting-wheel 24. The spring 46 is interposed between a collar 47 On said rod 43 and the lugs 45. By this'conhollo'wstructionit will be apparent that While the.

reefing wheel acts to move the vanes 26, said vanes still have a movement independent of each other as the rod 43 can move through the opening in the lugs 45. The vanes if struck by an excessive blow like a minlature cyclone will operate individually and relieve the strain and the tendency to destroy the mill. There will bea difference in air currentson such a large sail surface exposed to the wind and by having the vanes capable of independent operation, the warping of the mill is avoided.

To provide for the movement of the reefing-wheel 24 back and forth on the shaft 14, a cable 48 is connected to the clamp 49 on one of the spokes :23, said cable passing around the sheave 50 mounted on lugs 51 011 the hollow-shaft 14, said sheave projecting through a slot 52 formed in said shaft. Said cable has the swivel 53 which connects it up with the cable 54 passing over the sheave 55. Said cable 54 thenpasses down and has secured thereto the weight-56. The other end of the cable 54 then passes around the drum 58 loosely mounted on the shaft 59 journaled in suitable housings 60.

Mounted loosely on the shaft 59 is one member 61 of the governor, said member consisting of the friction-drum 58 which is connected to drum 5S, and the other member is an arm 62 which is secured to the shaft 59 and which carries the bow-springs 63 pivoted at 64 to said arm, said bow-springs carrying the weights 65 at one end and the friction-shoes 66 at the opposite end. Suitable rests 65 and spring-retarding bolts 65 are employed for positioning the frictionshoes. It will be apparent from the above that the centrifugal action will actto throw the weights 65 outwardly and the shoes inwardly to engage the periphery of the friction-drum 61, and so revolve the drum 58, all as more fully hereinafter referred to.

A spring 67 is connected by the clamp 49 to the spoke 23 and to one of the spokes 17 of the power-wheel, said spring acting to reef the sails by drawing the reefing wheel toward the spring.

A sheave 68 is mounted on the shaft 14 and a belt or cable 69 connects said sheave with the sheave 7 O on the shaft 59 to impart rotary movement to said shaft.

In operation the turntable by means of its central pivot automatically keeps the mill on the lee side of said table and the frame moves upon the track only when the wind changes its direction. The wind striking the vanes or sails in the direction ofthe arrowwill impart a rotary movement to the wheel and through the cable 20 and the con-' nections described,- to the shaft 8 connected up with the machine to be operated by the mill, Under ordinary wind velocities, the

' sails will remain at a certain angle to impart the proper velocity to the wheel, but'in the event of excessive wind pressure during storms or miniature cyclones, the velocity of the mill will increase and it is here that the governing device comes into play. As the rotation of the shaft 14 increases, the speed imparted to the sheave 68 increases and through the belt 69, this speed is imparted to the shaft 59. The increased rotation of the shaft 59 will cause the spring-arms 63 to move outwardly at their weighted ends and cause the shoes 66 to move into contact with the friction-drum 61, and will move the reefing-wheel on the shaft 14, thereby operating the arm 41 to swing the vanes or sails around at a less angle, or even to the position indicated in full lines, Fig. 6, when the wind will simply pass between the several sails and the speed of the mill instantaneously reduced. As the wind-pressure dies down. the weight 56 will automatically control the bringing of the sails to the proper angle and the mill will continue to work as before under the ordinary conditions of wind-pressures. In this manner. I provide for the automatic regulation of the mill relieving it against strain due to excessive wind-pressures, and in this way, it is possible to provide a mill which is durable and efficient and yet which does not require such an amount of material in its construction to make its cost prohibitive. particularly adapted for irrigation purposes and other work requiring immense powersuch as grinding, draining and electrical development.

The mill requires no tail or rudder-wheel, but automatically faces the wind by reason of its pivotal connection in the center of the track, and provides for means of conveying power through a central pivot to a predetermined location at the power-house.

One of the special advantages of my construction is that the sails are so arranged that each sail can act independently of its mates, as well as being under the control of the governing device.

What I claim is:

1. In a power windmill, the combination with a suitable frame. of a wheel mounted therein, a plurality of vanes carried thereby, and automatic reefing means for turning the vanes on their axes in unison and having yielding connections therewith to permit independent movement of the vanes with respect to one another.

2. In a power windmill, the combination with a suitable frame, of a wheel mounted therein, a plurality of vanes carried by said I wheel, reefing means for turning the vanes The mill is 3. In a power windmill, the combination with a suitable frame, of awheel mounted therein, a plurality of vanes carried by said wheel and mounted thereon to turn on their longitudinal axes, a reefing wheel for turning the vanes on their axes in unison and having yielding connections therewith to permit independent movement of the vanes with respect to one another, and a governing device connected to said reefingwheel for controlling the speed of said mill.

4. In a power windmill, a combination with a suitable frame, of a shaft mounted therein, a wheel mounted on said shaft, a plurality of vanes carried by said wheel and mounted thereon to turn on their longitudinal axes, a reefingwheel on said shaft and movable to and fro thereon, rods connected to said vanes, said rods having sliding engagement with said reefing wheel, and springs on said rods interposed between abutments carried by said rods and said reefing wheel.

5. In a power windmill, a combination with a suitable frame, of a shaft mounted therein, a wheel on said shaft, a plurality of vanes carried by said wheel and mounted to turn on their longitudinal axes, a reefing wheel mounted on said shaft and movable to and fro thereon, and rods having a sliding connection with said reeling wheel, arms connected to said rods and to said vanes, and springs on said rods interposed between abutments carried by said rods and said vanes.

6. In a power windmill, the combination of a suitable frame, a shaft mounted therein, a wheel on said shaft, a plurality of vanes carried by said wheel and mounted to turn on their longitudinal axes, a reefing-wheel on said shaft and movable thereon, connections between said reefing-wheel and said vanes, a cable connected to said reefingwheel, a'weight carried by said cable, a drum on which said cable is wound, automatic governing device controlling said drum, and connections between said wheel and said governing device. V

7. In a power wind-null, the combination of a suitable frame, a shaft mounted therein, a wheel on said shaft, a plurality of vanes carried by said wheel and mounted to turn on their longitudinal axes, a ieefingwheel, connections between said resting-wheel and said vanes, a cable connected to said reefingwheel, a weight carried by said cable, a drum on which said cable is wound, a frictionmember carried by said drum, a shaft upon of a suitable frame, a shaft mounted therein, I

a wheel on said shaft, a plurality of vanes earned by sald wheel and mounted to turn on their longitudinal axes and movable thereon, a cable connected to said reefingwheel, a weight carried by said cable, a shaft, a drum loosely mounted on said shaft around which said cable is wound, a friction-member carried by said drum, an arm secured to said shaft, centrifugally-operated frictionshoes carried by said arm adapted to engage the said friction-member, and connections between said last-named shaft and said firstnamed shaft.

9. In a power wind-mill, the combination of a suitable frame, a hollow shaft mounted therein, a wheel mounted on saidvshaft, a plurality of vanes carried by said wheel mounted to turn on their longitudinal axes, a reefing-wheel on saidshaft and movable thereon, connections between said reefingwheel and said vanes, a cable connected to said reeling-wheel,said-cable passing through said hollow shaft, a weight connected to said cable, a second shaft, a drum loosely mount ed on said shaft around which said cable is wound, a friction member carriedby'said drum, a centrifugally-operated friction de-' vicesecured to said shaft adapted to be thrown into frictional contact with said friction-member, and connections between said hollow shaft andv said last-named shaft.

In testimony whereof,I the said GEORGE D. Fos'rnn, have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE D. FOSTER.

Witnesses CARRIE GROSENBAUGH, MILAN VELIKANJE. 

